Blood Bullets
by author12306
Summary: When sent to investigate akuma activity, Allen, Lenalee, and Kanda discover a new accommodator, a clumsy, shy, helpless girl with a parasitic weapon. Without being given the choice she joins the Order and adapts to life as an Exorcist. Rated for violence. Possible AllenxOC in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I have not, do not, and never shall own DGM.

A/N: I know the odd phenomenon caused by innocence normally have something to do with the abilities of the innocence, but in this story it has more to do with the accommodator's personality. Also, I may change the order of events to fit this a bit better, sorry. The title will be explained in this chapter as well.

* * *

Chapter 1

A young woman with long, silky, dusty brown hair hurried along the sidewalk. In her hands she held a letter. The paper was clutched protectively to her chest, as if it were important.

"Hey! Watch it kid," people shouted at her as she ran into people in her rush.

People avoided the girl like a plague, stepping into the street even to avoid her arms brushing against their own arm or side.

One man, however, didn't move. The man wore a very professional suit, a top hat stood tall on his head.

Without warning the girl ran into him, trying to skid to a halt.

The man stumbled forward and turned to the girl to reveal unnatural grey skin.

"I'm sorry!" the girl exclaimed from where she'd fallen on the ground. The letter was still held protectively in one hand.

At first the man looked surprised, then he offered the girl a hand to help her stand.

The girl glanced up at his hand hesitantly, then at her own gloved hands. Two shapes, similar to those of a gun's muzzle, disrupted the smooth, red fabric on her palms. "Thank you," the girl hesitantly took his hand and stood, the letter still held close.

"Are you alright?" the man asked, he seemed like a true gentleman.

"I'm fine, I'm sorry I ran into you!" the girl apologized as she ran around him, "I really gotta go!"

The man, Tyki, chuckled. He had a feeling he would be seeing the girl in combat soon.

_Almost there! _the girl panted as she turned a corner. She came face to face with one of the boys from her school.

"Hi!" she smiled, the letter still in her hands, "I got the letter, is it true you don't think I'm cursed?" the girl bounced excitedly on her heels.

"Of course I don't, Shepry," the boy smiled, but something in his eyes seemed wrong. They were dull, gone; they held only a blood thirsty look.

"Are you okay? You look like you're feeling bad," Shepry said, reaching out to feel his forehead.

Her palm stung and she tried hurriedly to pull her hand back, but it was too late. A red, glossy bullet, the color of blood, burst through the crimson fabric of her gloves.

The boy didn't even attempt to dodge.

"Edmund!" Shepry's eyes widened, her body trembled as she looked at her peer, dead with a bullet of her own blood in his head. Her knees felt weak and her hand stung, "I am cursed, I shouldn't be allowed close to anyone."

She stepped back, her legs weak, and then turned. She ran, tears streaming down her face, the letter lying on the sidewalk next to the dead boy.

* * *

"Uh, Kanda-" Lenalee was cut off when, without realizing it was there, Kanda stumbled right into a shallow pond.

Allen chuckled, trying not to burst out laughing.

"Shut up, Moyashi," Kanda glared at his fellow exorcist.

"Uh, sir, I'd get out of that pond now, if I were you. There are leeches in there," a girl who looked rather shaken by something approached. Her long hair was windblown from running and her brown eyes were wide and spooked. Her skin was unusually pale.

Kanda's eyebrow twitched slightly as he stood up, for once glad of the ridiculously thick uniforms Exorcists had to wear.

"People never see things when I'm around. I'm sorry," Shepry hung her head sadly, still trying to forget the horrific scene that had unfolded in town, "If you three need a place to stay tonight I have a guest room at my house."

"Thank you for the offer, but we can stay in an inn," Allen assured.

"Good luck finding one with any room. They're always crowded this time of year because of festivals and such," Shepry shrugged, "My house is that one over there, if you can't find an inn."

The house stood alone on a hill, most other buildings were already behind them.

"We'll keep your offer in mind," Lenalee smiled.

_Probably not, they probably already heard rumors that the girl who lives in that house is cursed and people who approach her die or get hurt, _Shepry looked down at her palms, one of her red gloves torn to reveal the blood red gun muzzle sticking from her palm, "Again, I'm very sorry."

"Kanda just wasn't being very observant, it's not your fault," Allen assured, waving the apology away.

"N-no, whenever I'm near and someone is walking by things-trees, ponds, rocks- they seem to disappear to them. It only happens when I'm around though," Shepry explained, "So please accept my apology."

"Stop apologizing, it's annoying," Kanda glared at her.

Shepry's face turned bright pink, "I'm sorry if I was annoying!"

"Che," was the only response she earned from an annoyed Kanda.

"Oh, I apologized again!" she almost apologized _again _for apologizing.

"Che, lets get going," Kanda glared at her again.

"Kanda! Stop being so rude," Lenalee scolded.

* * *

Shepry sat at the kitchen table of her home. She hadn't bothered turning on the lights when she had arrived. Her chin rested on her crossed arms against the table and her chair had slid back, leaving her stretched between her chair and the table.

_It happened again. As soon as someone approached me as a friend my stupid hand shot them! _Shepry stared at the dim wall, tears dampened her face but no longer streamed from her eyes.

There was a knock at the door.

Shepry dragged herself from her chair and sniffled. She walked to the door and opened it to reveal the three Exorcists from earlier, "Hello."

"Does your offer still stand? All of the inns in town were full," Allen explained.

"Yes," Shepry nodded, "By the way, you never told me your names."

"I apologize for that. I'm Allen Walker, call me Allen," Allen introduced.

"I'm Lenalee Lee," Lenalee smiled.

Kanda simply crossed his arms stubbornly and didn't answer.

"He's Yuu Kanda," Lenalee answered for him, "He's a bit grumpy."

"A bit?" Shepry and Allen both questioned at the same time.

"Shut up, Moyashi," Kanda growled.

"My name is Shepry Field," Shepry added. She opened the door all the way and stepped aside for the three to enter.

Lenalee noticed the drying tears on Shepry's face, and for a moment looked as if she were about to ask about it.

The look in Shepry's eyes kept her from speaking.

"Okay, there's a guest bedroom but it's only got one bed. My room has an extra bed so Lenalee can sleep there. You two might have to share a bed or one of you could take the couch," Shepry said as she closed and locked the door behind the three.

Kanda volunteered to take the couch.

"Have you three had dinner yet?" Shepry asked as she led them into the living room. She sat down in a comfy looking arm chair. Allen, Kanda, and Lenalee all took a seat on either the couch or the remaining chair.

"Yes," Lenalee nodded, "Though Allen may need more to eat later. He's got a rather unusual appetite."

"I understand that!" Shepry laughed, glancing at the white-haired exorcist, "I'm always hungry. People are always surprised at how much I can eat too. I always used to get teased about it at school. But then we moved and I learned that eating so much was odd."

For the first time Allen seemed to notice that Shepry was still wearing a pair of crimson gloves, as if trying to hide something on her hands. One of the gloves was torn, it seemed, near the palm. Shepry had kept that palm hidden since they had arrived.

"Allen? Why're you staring at my hand?" Shepry asked, waving her other, gloved, hand in front of his face.

"Your glove is torn," Allen pointed out.

Shepry glanced down quickly, hoping that Allen hadn't seen the gun muzzle on her hand. Her hand was angled away from him.

"I tripped earlier and it got caught on something," Shepry smiled.

"That's not what the townspeople were saying," Kanda pointed out.

Shepry stiffened, her palm turned out and came into view, "I-I'm not cursed like everyone says. I d-didn't kill him I swear!"

"Calm down, Shepry," Allen said calmly, "He wasn't human any longer."

"What do you mean? Of course he was human!" Shepry snapped, pulling her hand closer.

"He was an akuma," Allen began to explain.

"No! Akumas are demons, the only demon around here is me," Shepry shook her head. Her knees felt weak.

"We're talking about two completely different things," Lenalee soothed, "Do you know if anyone in that kid's family had died recently?"

"His sister, why?" Shepry asked, "If you think I killed her-"

"No, we just think he was an akuma, a weapon created by the Millennium Earl out of tragedies," Allen explained.

"Y-you mean he wasn't human?" Shepry asked nervously.

"He wasn't. We also think you may possess Innocence," Lenalee assured, "If so, then we'd like you to come with us to the Black Order."

"I didn't kill anyone," Shepry sounded relieved, "I'm not a murderer. Wait, what's Innocence?"

"It is a substance known as the God Crystal and it can be used to destroy akuma, but it is only usable by certain people, these people are known as accomodaters," Allen explained.

Shepry looked momentarily hesitant as took off her gloves and flipped her hands over, revealing the red lumps on each palm. "Could it have anything to do with this?" she spoke hesitantly, quickly hiding her palms again.

"Yes, you could be a parasitic type accommodator. That means that part of your body is a weapon made out of innocence," Allen nodded, showing her his left hand.

Shepry looked back at her palms, "What if accommodators don't want to fight akuma?"

"They don't get the choice," Kanda answered.

"I'm not going to leave my home to hunt monsters," Shepry answered simply, glaring at Kanda.

"Don't worry about that," Allen assured quickly, "It's getting late though. I think it's a good idea for my friends and I to get some sleep."

"Sure, I'll show you to your room and get some blankets for the couch," Shepry stood up and led Allen and Lenalee up the stairs. She returned a moment later with an armful of blankets and a pillow for Kanda. She glared at him as she walked back up the stairs.

"Thank you for letting us stay here. I'm sorry if Kanda seemed a little rude," Lenalee thanked as Shepry entered the room.

"You're welcome. I don't mind his attitude, too much. You and Allen are really nice," Shepry yawned, "Sorry if I seemed a little hostile towards your friend Yu. I'm not very fond of the idea of new environments. Someone telling me I'd have to leave my home just made me a little nervous."

"It's okay," Lenalee assured, "New places _can _be scary."

"What's it like, being an Exorcist?" Shepry asked, glancing at her palms again.

"It's actually really hard, because whenever you fight akuma you know that they're people who couldn't be saved fast enough. It's really dangerous too, the Black Order raised me so I grew up there and I remember the main hall of the building was always full of coffins," Lenalee spoke softly, "But there's also a bright side to it all. The other members are like a second family, they care about all of us."

"How did you end up joining the Order? You said you grew up there, how old were you?" Shepry questioned.

"I don't remember exactly how old I was, but when I was very young the Order discovered I was compatible with the dark boots- my anti akuma weapon- and took me away from my brother. Our parents had recently been killed by an akuma so Komui was all I had left. It was three years before I saw my brother again; I felt like I was in prison for those three years," Lenalee explained with a gentle, sad smile, "Then my brother joined the Black Order's science division and he began living at Headquarters too."

"That's horrible. I'm sorry I brought it up," Shepry mumbled, resting her head against her arms that were crossed over her knees, "Did stuff like that happen to any of the other Exorcists?"

"I've never asked Kanda how he joined the order, he doesn't ever want to talk about it. Allen was an orphan, and when his foster father died he turned him into an akuma. He was cursed but his arm activated in time to kill the akuma, one of the exorcist Generals found him and trained him. He only joined a few weeks ago, but he's known about akuma for much longer," Lenalee explained, "Not all of us were brought to the Order under harsh conditions. Many exorcists come willingly once they see what akuma can do to those they care for."

"Do akuma always look like people?" Shepry asked quietly.

"Not when they fight us. You can definitely tell when you're looking at an undisguised akuma," Lenalee explained.

"Do I really not have a choice in becoming an Exorcist?" Shepry asked. She had stood and pulled a pair of pajamas from her dresser.

Lenalee didn't answer.

"Good night," Shepry answered as she went to the bathroom to change into her pajamas. When she returned the lights were already off. Shepry climbed into the empty bed beside the window and soon fell asleep.

* * *

Shepry's hand stung, causing her eyes to snap open. Outside the moon hung eerily bright and orange in the sky. She recognized the feeling in her hand and pointed her palm towards the window, just in time for a red bullet, the color of her blood, to shatter one of the glass panes. A bullet, off purple in coloration, broke through another window pane, sending shattered glass down on the foot of Shepry's bed. Her hand burned again, this time it was the other hand, and she held it towards the window. The bullet hit something, and a loud, bright explosion shook the remaining windows panes free of their frame. Shepry squeaked in fear and scrambled to the floor, hiding behind the edge of the bed and out of attack range of the window. Then she noticed that Lenalee wasn't in the room anymore.

Outside there were two more bright explosions. Then another, and finally a fourth. Shepry cautiously looked through the window. More shadows floated in the sky, they were round and on one of the closer forms she could see a sad, clown-like face. _Those must be akuma, _she thought. Her body felt weak, as if she hadn't eaten anything for awhile. She wondered what was wrong with her as she cautiously made her way to Allen's room to see if he was still there. It was empty as well. She already had a strong feeling that Kanda was fighting as well. Without much else to do she sat in the stairwell, where there were no windows. Her arm ached, and when she glanced down she saw a multitude of small cuts from the glass of the window.

The house trembled again. A loud thump sounded as something slammed into the front door. Shepry glanced up, the door was splintered into multiple pieces and a creature stood in the doorway. It gave off a similar, ominous feeling to what the akuma gave off, but it looked different. It still had a mask like face, like a sad clown, but it had another face as well. One with cold, reptilian eyes and a curling grin. The creature resembled a weasel as it began searching the house for something. Two akuma followed it.

"Come out, Exorcist," the creature said in a distorted, nearly inhuman voice. It scanned the room, searching for the new holder of innocence. It chuckled, a sound that sent a chill down Shepry's spine. She exhaled silently, wondering how long it would take for the creature to find her. The creature's eyes settles on her. Her heart stopped and her breath caught in her throat, "Found you."

One of the level one akuma aimed a gun at her.

Shepry's hand stung and she held it up, aimed at the akuma ready to shoot her. A blood bullet launched and she watched the akuma explode, only to look at the bullet that had lodged itself in her leg. A funny, numb feeling began to spread throughout her body as black stars began to spread across her skin. Her hands, arms, and chest stung as a green light spread across her body and practically dissolved the black stars. The house around her creaked as akuma outside were destroyed and blew up. Her vision seemed to fade, and she wondered why she felt so weak. With that last thought in her mind her eyes drifted closed.

* * *

A/N: Thanks a bunch for reading! :D This is my first serious DGM story, and I really appreciate any support.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own DGM.

* * *

Chapter 2

Shepry was aware of the steady sound of a train. She had only been on a few trains, but she definitely recognized the feeling of the vehicle. She opened her eyes and recognized a first-class passenger cabin.

"How are you feeling?" Allen asked, his voice worried.

"Fine," Shepry answered, her groggy mind running full speed to process where she was. Then she remembered being told about exorcists and the Black Order, "Where are we?"

"On a train, heading for the Black Order," Allen answered hesitantly.

Shepry narrowed her eyes at him as she sat up, "When we get to the next station, I am getting off of this train, and I am returning home."

"If you go home you'd be putting your family in danger," Allen argued gently.

"Those things had never shown up before you three _monsters _showed up!" Shepry growled, "It's your fault that any of that happened."

"It would have happened eventually, Shepry, and you wouldn't have known what was going on," Allen tried not to take offense to her comment.

"I don't wanna kill those things. I don't wanna fight anyone or anything, I just wanna go home and keep living normally like I always have," Shepry practically whimpered.

"A lot of people feel that way when they're brought to the Order, but the Order has ways of making you join," Allen had a sympathetic look in his eyes, "Almost no one joins willingly."

"Did you join willingly?" Shepry asked.

"Yes, but my circumstance was a bit different than most," Allen answered.

Shepry remained silent after this answer. As she looked like she was about to speak again the door to their cabin opened and Kanda and Lenalee entered.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Lenalee smiled at her.

Shepry didn't respond. Often times when she was annoyed with someone or something, she would grow silent and refuse to even look at the cause of the problem. She had made an exception with Allen to figure out where she was.

"Are you okay?" Lenalee asked when Shepry didn't respond.

"Shut up," Shepry growled quietly.

Lenalee looked startled by the difference between Shepry's behavior the previous day and her current actions.

The room fell into an unpleasant silence.

* * *

Shepry trailed behind Allen, Lenalee, and Kanda in the busy crowd, hoping for a good opportunity to escape and disappear into the crowd. Someone bumped into her, pushing her away from the three exorcists. She ran into the crowd.

"Hey, Shepry!" Allen called after her, frustrated. That was the third time she'd tried to sneak away from them.

Shepry wove and stumbled through the crowd, tripping over her own feet as well as stumbling between the tightly packed crowd.

People shouted in her wake, but she was glad it was so crowded. Or she _was _glad until she ran straight into someone wearing a long, beige coat. Two other people wearing similar outfits were talking with him.

"Please help, crazy people are trying to kidnap me. They're convinced I need to help them fight akuma," Shepry stood quickly and turned to run through the crowd again.

The three people glanced between each other, "Here, we'll take you to somewhere safe and get this sorted out."

"I'll go try to find a police officer nearby to warn them about what's happening," one finder said kindly, wandering into the crowd. The other two led Shepry through the crowd.

"Thank you so much for helping me," Shepry sighed, relieved.

"Of course," one finder smiled assuringly as they exited the train station. They soon reached a small restaurant. It was run by a follower of the Order. Soon the other finder returned with Kanda, Allen, and Lenalee following him.

Shepry couldn't get her legs to move, to carry her away from these crazy people.

"Shepry, don't run off like that. We were worried," Lenalee said, trying not to draw the attention of other people in the restaurant.

_I can escape once they get me to the Black Order, it'll be okay. I'll just let them take me there, _Shepry thought before she spoke, "Sorry, I got lost."

"It's okay. Lets get going," Lenalee grabbed Shepry's wrist and followed the others outside onto the busy sidewalk. There, at the edge of town, was a towering cliff.

"How are we supposed to get to the top of that?" Shepry blinked, bewildered.

"There's a water-route that goes through the inside of the cliff," Allen assured, remember his climb up the towering rock.

Lenalee snickered quietly, "But you didn't know that when you got here."

Allen's cheeks flushed pink at the reminder.

"Wait, you managed to climb that?!" Shepry looked back up at the cliff with wide eyes.

"Yeah, it took awhile," Allen chuckled as they walked to the docks of the water-route.

Soon they had boarded one of the boats and Allen took over steering the boat upstream. Soon they reached the end of the route, the bottom floor of the Headquarters building.

"Wow, this place is huge," Shepry looked in awe at the towering ceiling of the first floor, where they currently stood.

"This is one of the smaller floors, actually," Lenalee said as she led Shepry towards Komui's office.

"Really?! This is the biggest building I've ever seen. Even when I lived in America there weren't any buildings this big," Shepry followed hurriedly behind Lenalee. She wondered where new Exorcists went at first.

"You lived in America?" Lenalee asked, trying to start a conversation about something more interesting than the architecture.

"Yeah, I was born there and my parents and I lived there until I was twelve. Then we moved to England about four years ago. My dad originally wanted to start a small farm, but a feral dog killed all our sheep about a week after we'd bought them and we didn't have the money to buy more. Then my dad continued working as a vet like he did in America," Shepry explained.

"That's interesting," Lenalee smiled, "What was America like? I've never been there before."

"Well, where I lived it was rather peaceful. There were a bunch of farms spread out over a large distance, and there was this really small town that didn't even have a name, it was just a post office, a train station, a trade shop, a tailor's shop, and the butcher. We lived pretty close to there, within walking distance, and my da was a farm call vet. When someone's animals got sick they'd call him and he'd go take care of them. Sometimes travelers even brought horses and dogs to our house! I hear a lot of places aren't that peaceful, though, and the port town we went to was really busy. I'd never seen so many people, carriages, or buildings in one place," Shepry explained, her eyes glowing with excitement.

"That sounds really nice. Maybe someday we can go there when we get a break from missions," Lenalee smiled. They had reached Komui's office. Lenalee opened one of the double doors and led Shepry into the messy room. Papers littered the floor in over an inch thick layer, books lay scattered and barely clinging to the shelves. A young man with purple hair and a white uniform was asleep at the desk. People wandered from one side of the room to the other, traveling from more crowded, cluttered desks. They all looked exhausted and the smell of coffee hung so strong in the air that Shepry wrinkled her nose, "Oh no, he's asleep again."

"What is this place?" Shepry asked, her voice sounding congested because she wasn't breathing through her nose. She couldn't stand the smell of coffee, and personally she thought it smelled like a skunk.

"It's the Science Division of the Order. My brother Komui is the leader of the division but he never takes his work seriously," Lenalee sighed as she walked over to her brother's desk and shook his shoulder, "Komui, if you wake up now I promise I'll make extra coffee after you take the new Exorcist to Hevlaska."

"Lenalee! My precious sister has returned!" Komui cried as he woke up, hugging Lenalee.

"Yes brother, now can you please take Shepry to Hevlaska for an evaluation of her innocence?" Lenalee pried her brother's arms away.

"Oh, there's a new Exorcist?" Komui blinked as he spotted Shepry, looking slightly concerned.

"I called you at the train station!" Lenalee reminded him.

"Oh yeah, you did I guess," Komui smiled in oblivious remembrance.

"Lenalee, is he, er, mentally okay?" Shepry asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Yes, he just acts like this _sometimes_," Lenalee nodded.

"Shepry, please come with me," Komui smiled kindly towards her.

"Okay," Shepry followed.

"Brother, I'll make coffee while you're gone," Lenalee called, walking towards the Science Division break room.

"Where are we going?" Shepry asked as she followed Komui down many twisting hallways.

"To see Hevlaska. She'll tell us a bit about your synchronization with your innocence," Komui explained.

Shepry nodded silently as they took another turn down yet another twisting hallway. Soon they reached an odd platform, it wasn't supported by anything and had a control panel at one side.

"Watch your step," Komui advised as Shepry followed him onto the elevator. He pressed a few buttons on the panel and the elevator dropped quickly. It stopped suddenly in front of Hevlaska.

"What is that thing?" Shepry asked as she spotted Hevlaska.

"She's one of our Exorcists, her name is Hevlaska," Komui introduced.

Shepry continued to stare wide eyed at Hevlaska. For a moment she even began to wonder how her life had gotten so odd so fast. Small, white, glowing hands and arms wrapped around her and lifted her off of the ground. They wrapped around her hands, covering the muzzles on her palms. Had she not been so shocked Shepry would have screamed at how high off of the ground she was. Soon she was set back on the ground.

"This isn't good, her synchronization rate is only thirty-five percent," Hevlaska reported.

"That _isn't_ good," Komui commented.

"What just happened?" Shepry asked, at least glad to be on solid ground.

"She was checking your synchronization rate, or the number that represents your ability to control your innocence," Komui explained.

"Don't you warn people about things like that?" Shepry glared at him.

"Nope," Komui responded.

Someone cleared their throat, Shepry noticed the row of chairs a distance away.

"She will require extensive training to raise her synchronization rate. We will be putting General Yeegar in charge of that when he returns from his current mission," one of the shadowed figures spoke.

"Of course," Komui responded, "I'll make sure to remind the General to return once his job is done."

"You may leave," one of the shadowed figures dismissed them.

Komui pressed a few buttons on the control panel and the elevator returned to its original level.

"I'll make sure someone takes you to the cafeteria and shows you to your new room," Komui smiled as they entered the Science Division yet again.

Allen was watching Johnny build a new Golem. It looked different from TImcanpy, it even looked different from all of the other Golems. It had butterfly wings with a light blue pattern against a purple background. A blue flower design blossomed across its face.

"Who does that belong to, anyway?" Allen asked curiously. It had a very similar design to Timcanpy, as Timcanpy had been the original model for this prototype.

"No one, actually. I ended up using this pattern because we're getting more and more female finders and Exorcists, never know when one'll need a new Golem," Johnny shrugged.

"What is that?" Shepry had wandered over.

"It's a Golem. They help us communicate over long distances," Allen explained.

"It looks weird," Shepry commented.

"Most of them don't look like that," Allen explained as he pointed to a box of unused Golems sitting on a nearby desk, "That's what they normally look like, though there is another odd model."

Timcanpy squirmed out of Allen's sleeve and fluttered around Shepry's head before landing in her hair.

"His name is Timcanpy," Allen commented as Shepry tried to get Tim out of her hair.

* * *

A/N: I'm gonna cut the chapter off there. Thanks a bunch for reading! :D Hopefully I can keep chapters coming out this fast on weekends, a bit slower during the weeks because I was a smart idiot and took five advanced classes my first year of high school. And took an extra hour of school so I could take art, Spanish II, AND Orchestra.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: *points at self* I donut own DGM :3

* * *

Chapter 3

Shepry's stomach growled loudly as she followed Allen towards the cafeteria.

"Are we almost there?" she asked as her stomach growled yet again. The last time she had eaten was lunch the day before.

"Almost," Allen assured as they finally reached the cafeteria doors.

The room was bustling with finders, exorcists, and scientists. Lenalee sat at a table near the middle of the room.

"This place is crowded," Shepry stated as she followed Allen to the ordering window.

"What can I get you today, honey?" Jerry asked Allen.

Allen listed off about thirty different food items before he stepped aside for Shepry to order.

"S-steak, medium rare, and cherry pie," Shepry ordered. She almost never ordered an amount of food she considered normal when she was somewhere public.

"Alright, I'll have your orders right out," Jerry assured.

"Didn't you say you were a parasitic type? Do you normally eat that much?" Allen asked.

"N-no, I normally eat a lot more, but, I just don't feel comfortable eating so much when other people are around," Shepry's cheeks flushed bright red.

"Don't worry, you're not the only parasitic type accommodator. No one will judge you on how much you eat," Allen assured.

"It'll just take me awhile to get used to that, I guess," Shepry shrugged, "Oh well."

"Wait, are you just going to starve yourself?!" Allen spoke loudly, drawing the attention of a few nearby finders.

"No, I'll probably just eat in my room," Shepry quickly waved her hands defensively, "I'm not that stupid."

"I didn't mean to offend you, you just worried me," Allen apologized. Soon their food was ready and they went to sit with Lenalee.

Lenalee greeted them with a smile before asking, "What did Hevlaska say?"

"Something about thirty-five percent something-or-other," Shepry answered. She didn't notice the worried expressions on both Allen and Lenalee's faces, "What does that even mean? I sorta stopped paying attention when Komui tried to explain it."

"Synchronization rate is how much control you've got over your weapon. If it drops below thirty the innocence won't respond to you anymore," Lenalee answered.

Shepry shrugged, she saw no problem with this. She took a bite of steak.

"If your synchronization rate drops below zero you'll die," Lenalee added darkly.

"Well hopefully that doesn't happen," Shepry answered, "But if my synchronization rate were to drop below thirty I'd be sent home, right?"

"Yes," Allen answered slowly, thinking over the rest of his answer, "But if your synchronization rate drops below thirty there's a good chance that'll kill you. From what we've seen of the form your innocence has taken all of your blood is innocence, it would stop in your veins and kill you."

"Darn, there goes my plan," Shepry sighed, she had finished her steak but her stomach was still growling. Soon she had finished off the pie she had ordered, her stomach still grumbled, "I'll be back."

Shepry returned to the table a few minutes later with more food. She sat down, but before she started eating she spoke, "When we were at my house and I got shot by that akuma, what were those black stars?"

"The akuma bullets have a virus on them that causes the human body to disintegrate. Parasitic users can purify themselves of the virus and survive but just about anyone else is out of luck," Allen explained.

"So, if someone like Lenalee got shot, even though she's an Exorcist, she'd die?" Shepry asked.

"Sadly, yes," Allen nodded.

"Some people like Kanda can survive it. None of us know why, though," Lenalee added.

"Can parasitic types help someone else who's infected with the virus?" Shepry asked as she finished half of her food.

"Not unless that's something specific to their innocence," Allen shook his head sadly.

"Then what's the point of going into battle just knowing you'll be able to save yourself and not your friends?" Shepry questioned.

"Because it's our job, as Exorcists, to protect innocent people from akuma," Lenalee answered this time, her tone was sad.

"Of all of the people wearing Exorcists' uniforms today, almost all of them were under twenty. Why are so many Exorcists so young?" Shepry questioned.

"We don't know, they don't worry about age when they discover an accommodator," Lenalee said.

"That's stupid," Shepry mumbled, she had finished all of her food.

"Can I sit here?" a nervous looking finder asked. He looked as if he had just joined the Order as well.

"Of course," all three occupants of the table smiled.

"Thank you," the finder sat down. He had his hood down, his hair was messy, slightly long, and pale blonde.

"You're welcome, " Lenalee smiled, then, in an attempt at conversation, said, "What's your name?"

"I'm Bert," he answered, "I didn't think Exorcists would even bother to learn a finder's name."

"Not all of us are that rude, though not all of us are this welcoming," Allen chuckled.

Shepry stayed silent, she never liked talking to new people.

"Do you know if there are any Exorcists named Elsie at this branch?" Bert asked.

"No, but I think I remember an Exorcist named Elsie passing through here on her way to the Asia Branch, why?" Lenalee remembered the young girl from a few months before, being brought to the main headquarters to have her innocence checked by Hevlaska, then being taken to the Asia branch immediately.

"She's my sister, I was just wondering if she was here. She's the reason I became a finder," Bert explained.

"I'm sure they're taking good care of her at the Asia Branch," Allen assured.

"I hope so, she seemed really excited about getting to help people," Bert smiled.

Shepry had crossed her arms across the table and laid her head on them, closing her eyes.

"Shepry, do you want me to show you where your room is?" Lenalee asked, lightly tapping her on the shoulder.

"Yeah," Shepry nodded.

"Follow me," Lenalee smiled as she led her out of the cafeteria and into the hallway. They circled the looping hallway multiple times, reaching the top floor of the Order's tower. Lenalee opened one of the doors to reveal a room, clearly cleaned recently. Dust still floated idly in the air and the smell of cleaning chemicals left Shepry pinching her nose against the smell, "Tomorrow Johnny will take measurements for your uniform, and we'll see about contacting General Yeegar about your training."

"Thanks," Shepry yawned, her sense of smell already used to the harsh scent of the room.

Lenalee smiled and left.

Shepry closed to door to her room and walked to the bed nestled in the corner of the room. She shook the covers out, checking for any spiders or other insects, before flopping onto the soft bed. She soon fell asleep.

* * *

A quiet knock at the door woke Shepry from her lightening sleep. There was another, louder knock at the door.

Shepry yawned and stood, walking across the room to the door.

A finder Shepry didn't know stood at the door, bandages covered the bottom half of his face, "Ms. Exorcist, Komui would like you to report to his office."

"Okay," Shepry yawned as she followed the finder down the hall. Oddly she felt like talking, so she asked, "W-what's your name?"

"Toma," the finder answered, his eyes looked as if he were smiling.

"It's nice to meet you, Toma. I'm Shepry," she smiled back.

They fell back into silence, only speaking when they reached the office, "It was nice meeting you, Ms. Exorcist."

"Nice meeting you too, Toma," Shepry smiled as she entered the office.

An elderly man sat on the couch in front of Komui's desk. He had long, gray hair and friendly eyes.

"Good morning, Shepry," Komui greeted cheerfully, "Come take a seat."

"What do you want?" Shepry yawned as she plopped down on the couch next to General Yeegar.

"The General we've asked to train you wanted to meet his newest student. Shepry, meet General Kevin Yeegar," Komui introduced.

Shepry shook Yeegar's outstretched hand, "I'm Shepry Field."

"It's wonderful to meet you," General Yeegar spoke kindly.

"Nice to meet you too," Shepry mumbled, still not fond of trying to talk to new people.

"It's rude to mumble when introducing yourself to someone," Yeegar pointed out.

"Sorry," Shepry tried, and failed, to not murmur the words quietly.

"Shepry, if General Yeegar approves, you'll be traveling with him for the time being to start your Exorcist training," Komui explained.

"Shepry, we'll be leaving tomorrow," General Yeegar seemed to have already made up his mind about training her.

_But I don't wanna become an Exorcist, I just wanna go home! _Shepry couldn't make herself speak, she only nodded.

"We'll have Johnny take the measurements for your uniform and have it ready for you tomorrow before you leave," Komui smiled.

* * *

Shepry sat in General Yeegar's carriage, the one he travelled and lived in, awaiting the General's arrival. He had a few reports to file about his most recent missions and he had the finder accompanying them take Shepry through the water route.

She leaned her head against the window and looked out at the towering cliff. From where she sat she couldn't see the tower, had she not been at the top she would have never believed there was anything up there. She sighed in boredom.

The door of the carriage opened and General Yeegar climbed in, "Are you ready to begin your Exorcist training, Shepry?"

Shepry nodded, her head still leaned against the window.

"You don't want to become an Exorcist, do you?" Yeegar observed.

"I don't, I wanna go home and pretend none of this ever happened. I wanna go back home and help my dad with farm calls in the middle of the night, I wanna puppy-sit whenever we have a patient staying over night, I just don't wanna be here," Shepry answered.

"Your father was a veterinarian?" Yeegar tried to change the subject away from her training.

"Yeah, he mostly did farm calls, bigger animals that aren't as easy to get to a clinic. He'd go out, in any weather at any time, when he got a call. I remember once, when we lived in America, he even went six miles in the middle of a blizzard to help deliver a calf. But sometimes we get smaller animals, dogs and cats, and sometimes they'd have to stay over night because of medicine or surgery and I'd get to stay up and keep an eye on them. In fact, when I was brought to the Order my parents were gone for a few days to do a full farm check up, they'll come home to an empty house with broken windows and doors. They'll probably think I'm dead, even," Shepry felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she didn't care if she cried or not.

"I pity them, losing a child close to you is never a good experience," Yeegar said sadly.

Now Shepry wanted to change the subject. She thought for a moment before she asked, "How am I supposed to raise my synchronization rate?"

"Persistence. You'll just have to keep trying until you gain control," Yeegar explained.

"Darn," Shepry had always been one to give up easily when she got frustrated, she was the type of person who would try for ten minutes at something new and then give up and never care, "How long do you think it'll be before I go on missions on my own?"

"At least a year," General Yeegar answered.

_There goes my escape plan, _Shepry sighed.

"Thinking about going home on your first mission?" General Yeegar asked.

"N-no!" Shepry denied, "I'm not t-that stupid!"

"I never accused you of being stupid," General Yeegar pointed out.

"Your tone of voice implied you were calling me stupid," Shepry argued.

"It is not polite to disrespect your elders," General Yeegar said.

Shepry growled quietly, not responding any further to the conversation, "I'm not that impolite, am I?"

"I think you just need to get used to being around someone before you decide to act polite around them," Yeegar answered.

"Probably," Shepry nodded, "Sorry if I was acting rude."

"Not at all, you weren't exactly being rude," Yeegar assured.

"Oh, okay," Shepry shrugged as she looked out the window at the passing landscape.

* * *

Shepry closed her eyes and held her hand steady, aimed at a make-shift target carved into the thin bark of a tree. She took a slow, deep breathe before she called out, "Innocence, activate!" A familiar stinging feeling spread down her left arm, the arm not aimed at the target. She quickly held that arm up and watched as the red bullet shot past the tree and hit another tree about five feet back. A sudden weakness washed over her. Three days before when she had started her training with General Yeegar they had discovered each bullet she shot was half a liter of her blood, meaning she would begin to feel rather weak after shooting two bullets.

Shepry let herself drop to the ground, cradling her head. She looked back up and realized that she had already shot three bullets at the target, each farther away than the last.

"Shepry, you should eat something," the finder who had come with them, named Nard, rushed over and helped her up.

"Thanks," Shepry mumbled. Nard helped her back to the house-like carriage and helped her sit on the ground beside it.

"How about a sardine sandwich?" he asked, holding up a can of sardines.

Shepry nodded. Her innocence restored blood lost through bullets rather quickly, but eating iron rich foods helped make the process quicker.

"Here ya go," Nard handed her the sandwich.

"I think by the end of my training I'm never gonna touch sardines again," Shepry wrinkled her nose as she quickly at the sandwich, "Where'd Teacher go?"

"He had to investigate a nearby town. There were quiet a few akuma there," Nard answered, sitting down next to her.

"Okay," Shepry nodded, even though she was certain her body had already restored the blood she lost she still felt extremely sluggish, "I think I'm gonna take a nap, I woke up two hours earlier than normal this morning."

"Alright," Nard shrugged.

Shepry stood and climbed the steps into the carriage before folding one of the small, booth-like chairs on one side of the small table that occupied the center of the space. The back of the booth was a small bed. She pulled a folded blanket out from under the bed and curled up. Soon she had dozed off, only slightly annoyed at the light shinning brightly in her eyes.

* * *

A/N: Alright, thanks a bunch for reading! :D


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Me only own Shepry, poor her :3

* * *

Chapter 4

Shepry whined quietly as someone opened the carriage door and let the bright light of the evening sun shine directly in her eyes.

"Hey Shepry, wake up. The General wants you to go with him back to the town and see how well you can fight against a real akuma. Wake up," Nard was now shaking Shepry's shoulder.

"But I'm sleepy," Shepry whined unhappily.

"I don't care, get up now," Nard had stolen her blanket.

Shepry growled at him as she sat up. Her uniform was wrinkled and her hair had a rather large rat's nest on one side of her head, "I don't like you."

"Just get up already," Nard walked back outside.

Shepry yawned and untangled her hair with her fingers. She stood up and walked to the door of the carriage, grabbing her boots and sitting on the step from the door to the ground to put them on. Soon she stood and followed Nard towards the town, "I still can't activate my innocence at will sometimes, what makes teacher think I'll actually be able to fight an akuma?"

"I don't know, ask him yourself," Nard replied snappishly.

"Why're you so grumpy?" Shepry yawned again.

"Because I haven't slept in twenty hours," Nard answered.

"Why not?" Shepry asked.

"I'm not really sure. Haven't been able to sleep," Nard shrugged.

"That's not good. Maybe you should drink less coffee," Shepry suggested.

"No," Nard replied.

"Maybe you should drink more coffee?" Shepry suggested.

"Now you're contradicting yourself," Nard pointed out.

"I'm just trying to find an idea that's helpful," Shepry countered.

"And you're failing," Nard said.

"You're annoying," Shepry yawned. She still wasn't fully awake yet.

They soon reached where General Yeegar was waiting.

"Ready to go hunt some akuma, Shepry?" he asked.

"Nope," Shepry shook her head.

"That's the type of attitude that'll get you killed," Nard stated.

"The reports say the akuma have been most active at sunset, so we'll wait for them to come out," Yeegar explained.

"Why do we hunt them? Don't they only go after innocence?" Shepry questioned.

"No, they hunt innocent people to evolve and become stronger," General Yeegar said.

"Oh," Shepry hadn't known that.

Someone screamed nearby.

Nard and Yeegar ran in the direction the scream had come from, Shepry followed behind. She skidded around a corner after them, only to jolt to a stop at the sight of a level one akuma hovering over the ground and a young woman who looked terrified. It's guns were aimed at her.

Shepry's body moved on its own, her legs carried her to stand between the woman and the akuma, she raised her hand and shouted, "Innocence, Activate!" A bullet hit the akuma and caused it to explode, sending a wave of warmth over the group. She glanced at her side where an akuma bullet had grazed her side, leaving a small, bloody scrape. Black stars spread up her side but disappeared as her innocence purified the injury.

"Well well well, the Exorcists showed up," a voice hissed from the shadows of a building. A snake like creature darted out and sank its fangs into Shepry's arm. It reminded her of the akuma like creature she had seen at her home just before she had been knocked out. She pressed her hand to the top of its head and shot it, causing it to explode. She felt weak, she wondered if her innocence would restore the blood she lost while she had an actively bleeding injury.

"What were those things," the young woman who had been attacked asked. Her eyes were wide and she was pale and trembling.

"They were akuma," General Yeegar answered.

Shepry sat down heavily on the ground. Her side throbbed where she had been shot and her arm ached where the akuma had bitten her. She closed her eyes, for only a moment she thought, but soon felt as if everything surrounding her had fallen away.

* * *

"She'll need to eat something when she wakes but, but her injuries aren't that bad," Nard's voice broke the groggy haze that seemed to trap Shepry's mind.

"Someone mention food?" Shepry grumbled quietly.

"Yes, Shepry, I mentioned food," Nard chuckled.

"What happened?" Shepry could only remember how exhausted she felt after fighting the akuma.

"You fainted. We thought you might've been bleeding out," General Yeegar looked extremely guilty, "I'm sorry, Shepry. I thought you could handle that fight."

"I got rid of those akuma, right? I did handle it," Shepry assured.

"I let you get injured, Shepry, I failed as a teacher," Yeegar argued.

"Nope, I let myself get injured. I didn't have to save that woman, I could've let her die and then killed the akuma with no risk to myself. I didn't do that, now, did I?" Shepry argued.

Yeegar smiled at her.

"Can we get something to eat now? I'm really hungry," Shepry frowned.

"Of course, there was a nice looking restaurant in town," Yeegar nodded.

* * *

_Sleep, yay, _Shepry thought sleepily as she curled up under her blanket. Her arm and side still hurt but she wasn't hungry anymore, all she wanted was to sleep. Her mind slowly drifted off as her body relaxed, leaving her to dream contently.

The next morning as she woke up she remembered dreaming. She remembered a confusing, jumbled dream, but could only say one thing about the entire dream. Allen had been in her dream. She couldn't remember beyond that.

The carriage was nearly silent, only the sound of the wheels creaking could be heard. She wondered how late she'd been allowed to sleep in. Her arm ached from her sleeping on it. _Why couldn't I have slept more?_ She still felt exhausted even after a full night's sleep. She lifted her head off of her pillow and looked out of the window. It looked like it was sometime around nine o'clock, "Where're we going?"

"We're being sent to investigate a town with a time predicament, unless the other Exorcists assigned get there before us," General Yeegar answered.

"Why're they sending two groups of Exorcists?" Shepry yawned.

"Because we're in the area but may not get there as quickly as if they sent Exorcists from Headquarters by train," Yeegar explained.

"I guess that makes sense," Shepry nodded to herself, "Anything else weird about the place?"

"No one can enter or exit it," Yeegar nodded.

"How're supposed to do anything, then?" Shepry frowned.

"Komui believes, since it is caused by innocence, accommodators may be able to get in," Yeegar answered.

"Still sounds pointless if you ask me," Shepry shrugged.

One of the horses pulling the carriage neighed loudly, it almost sounded like a shriek. The carriage jerked to a stop.

"G-GENERAL!" Nard called.

The sound of gunshots rang outside the carriage, causing both Yeegar and Shepry to jump to action.

Black stars spread across Nard's skin, blood dripped form the corner of his mouth and a bullet was planted firmly in his stomach.

"I'm gonna try to help Nard," Shepry scampered over, dodging the akuma bullets that practically rained down. She had an idea, she honestly didn't know if it'd work but that wouldn't stop her from trying. She bit the palm of her hand enough to break the skin and draw a small drop of blood. On contact with the air her blood shimmered an odd green color. She held her hand over the gunshot wound on Nard's stomach and watched as the small droplet of blood hit the wound. It glowed green and the stars began to decrease and pale out until they were gone.

An akuma hovered just a few feet from Shepry, its gun aimed at her. She held up her hand, surprised when her innocence activated on its own. The akuma blew up at contact with the bullet. That had been the last of the akuma.

"We need to get Nard to a hospital or he's gonna bleed out," Shepry said shakily. The longer she looked at the bullet wound the sicker she felt, but she couldn't take her eyes off of it.

"Get him in the carriage," Yeegar commanded.

Shepry nodded and quickly helped a half conscious Nard into the carriage. She helped him sit down, "Are you okay?"

"I would say I was fine, but this hurts," Nard glared at her in a supposed-to-be-sarcastic kinda way.

"I bet, looks like it does," Shepry nodded. She was used to seeing animals with injuries even worse than this, but for some reason seeing another person with this injured disturbed her, "Are you feeling light-headed, weak? Nauseous?"

"A little light-headed," Nard nodded. He wondered if this was how she felt every time she shot too many bullets.

"I'm so sorry I let you get shot," Shepry murmured.

"It's not your fault, you didn't even know there were akuma out there," Nard assured quietly.

"But it's an Exorcist's job to protect people from akuma, I should have been able to keep this from happening," Shepry argued.

"You've been an Exorcist for what, three days? That's not enough to get this worried about one little finder," Nard tried to chuckle but it came out as a bloody cough.

"You're human too, y'know. If anything Exorcists should worry more about protecting you guys than you should worry about protecting us," Shepry pointed out.

"That's a really sweet thing to say, a lot of the other Exorcists don't care at all about us," Nard smiled.

The carriage jerked to a stop. Shepry helped Nard stand and helped him to the door.

Someone in the hospital must have seen them because two nurses and a doctor rushed out to take Nard for immediate treatment.

"Shepry, we need to head back towards our next mission," Yeegar said, "I'm sure he'll be fine. The Order will let us know how he's doing later."

"But what if he's not okay?" tears spilled down Shepry's face, "He was hurt really bad, what if he dies?"

"All finders know their job is dangerous, Shepry. We can't let these things slow us down," Yeegar laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We couldn't protect him, it's all my fault if he dies!" Shepry wailed.

"That's enough, Shepry. We need to continue to our destination," Yeegar interrupted, it hurt him to know this wouldn't be the first time Shepry faced a situation like their current one.

Shepry followed him to the carriage.

"I can drive if you give me the map," Shepry offered.

"Very well, the trails marked are the ones we need to take," he handed her the map.

* * *

The sun had just set and it was getting hard to see the path. Shepry squinted again at the awkwardly lit dirt path but stopped the horses. Unless she wanted to get them hopelessly lost she would have to stop for the night. She carefully tied the reins onto the small seat at the front of the carriage to keep them from sliding to the ground before she yawned and walked to the carriage door.

She heard a staticy voice speaking over Yeegar's Golem.

"Yes, he had lost too much blood when you got him there. He also had quiet extensive internal damage. He would've been in the hospital for months even if he did live," Komui's voice was skipping because of the poor connection, but Shepry could piece together what he said.

She swallowed hard, turning around and walking back to the front of the carriage. She knew he had been talking about Nard. She knew it was her fault Nard was dead. She couldn't protect him. She leaned her back against the carriage and buried her face in her hands. She heard the carriage door open but didn't look up. She didn't respond as a hand was placed on her shoulder. She only looked up with tearful eyes as Yeegar spoke.

"You heard the conversation?" it almost sounded like a statement.

Shepry nodded, sniffling quietly.

"Shepry, I know it's traumatizing, but in this line of work you're going to see many people die, get hurt, and even worse. I know you weren't given a choice, but if this is too much for you I can arrange something with Komui and the higher-ups in Central."

"No, I can fight those things so I'm going to until I can't," Shepry spoke quietly, her voice quivered as she wiped her damp face and eyes.

"Is that a promise you're willing to keep?" Yeegar had heard many people make promises like that to themselves only to give up and run too quickly.

"Yes, I swear that as long as am capable of fighting akuma I will. I won't run and I won't back away, if that's why you asked," Shepry nodded. She had already thought this through to herself.

"Alright," Yeegar could tell she meant to keep this promise, "Another reason Komui called was to tell us the others have already reached the Rewinding Town, we will not be needed there."

"Okay, where're we going now?" Shepry asked.

"There are no current assignments, but I've decided that we're going to go back to your home town and tell your parents where you are currently staying. I see it as only fair that they know," Yeegar answered.

"Really, you'll let me see my parents?" Shepry smiled.

"Yes, but you can't stay," Yeegar nodded.

"I know, I promise I won't try to run away when we get there either," Shepry agreed.

"We'll head that way tomorrow," Yeegar smiled.

* * *

Shepry stared at the ceiling of the carriage. She couldn't sleep no mater how hard she tried, and General Yeegar's snoring wasn't helping in the slightest.

_Will I really fight until I can't? Am I really capable of being that brave? _she sighed and rolled over, pulling the blanket over her ears. She was too warm with the blanket, but too cold without it. She didn't think it was possible to be this exhausted and not fall asleep. She didn't think anyone could snore that loud. She never thought it was possible to live in a carriage for more than two days. At this point she didn't care if something was or wasn't possible. Her arm was asleep from the way she was laying on it, she rolled over. Soon both shoulders and arms were asleep. She laid on her back again. Outside trees creaked in the wind and one of the two horses pulling the carriage neighed, _Everything's so loud when you're trying to fall asleep._

Shepry's eyes finally drooped closed, she could finally feel herself fall asleep.

A vague, unmemorable, hazy dream interrupted her sleep. Again, the next morning, she could only remember that Allen had been in it. She remembered he had been smiling and laughing at something someone had said.

She sighed sleepily as she leaned her had against the window. Yeegar was driving this time so she had a chance to nap in the carriage. Her head dropped against the window again as she yawned widely. She had woken up earlier than normal that morning too. Her eyes closed and she dosed off.

* * *

The carriage stopped, not abruptly but not slowly, and caused Shepry to slide out of her seat. She yawned as she sat up and looked around the carriage. She looked out of the window and saw a familiar area. Flat ground, occasionally broken up by ponds where the land steeped into the small body of water. Thick clumps of bright green plants interrupted the dull gray grass every here and there. Buildings were scattered at first, but there was one thick knot of buildings. People busily wandered around the scattered and close buildings without a care. This was what she had called home for three years.

Her stomach dropped as she remembered the day before she had been taken. Would anyone accuse her of murder? She hardly registered the fact that she stood, got out of the carriage, and followed General Yeegar towards the town.

"Shepry, it's impolite to ignore people," Yeegar pointed out.

"Sorry, did you ask something?" Shepry blinked.

"I asked you which house is yours," Yeegar repeated.

"Oh, okay," Shepry led him in the direction of her house. She could practically feel the glares and looks cast at her by passerby's.

"Hide your families, the cursed witch is back," someone hollered mockingly.

Shepry hung her head, she wanted to run the rest of the way but desperately hoped the Yeegar wouldn't notice all of the negative attention people paid her. Soon they reached the end of the sidewalks and walked on the rough grass beside a dirt road. Soon Shepry led them away from the road and towards a house. It looked like the door had been hastily fixed. Shepry quietly knocked on the door.

Thins happened too quickly for Shepry to react as both of her parents hugged her.

"Where were you?!" her mother asked, hugging her close.

"Are you okay?" her father questioned.

"I'm fine," Shepry answered, "Sorry I disappeared, but I won't be able to live here anymore."

"What are you talking about?" her mother demanded.

"It's a long story," Shepry murmured.

Her parents practically dragged her inside. Yeegar followed.

"What are you talking about, Shepry? Why can't you stay? Where were you? What happened?" her mom questioned.

"You're gonna think I'm crazy or something, but I swear I'm not," Shepry began, "The day after you left one of my class mates, Edmund, left me a note at school. He wanted to talk to me, he didn't think I was cursed, that's what the note said. I went to meet him, but something wasn't right. There was no expression in his eyes, and my hand started to hurt really bad. I didn't know what was gonna happen, but I shot him. I killed him, so I came home. I was afraid, and I didn't know what I should do. On my way home I saw someone who had fallen into one of the lakes and warned them about the leeches. They had just come to town, and didn't have anywhere to stay so I let them use the guest room, but they knew I'd shot Edmund. They told me he wasn't a human, he was an akuma. They told me it had something to do with his sister's death, and that he would have killed people if my hand hadn't shot him. They explained that the reason my hands have always been like this is because of something called Innocence, a weapon to fight akuma. Akuma showed up, and I got knocked out. When I woke up I was on a train headed to the Black Order, a place where people who can fight with Innocence are trained. Then I was sent with General Yeegar," she stopped speaking to take a breath and motion to General Yeegar, "for training. I'm so sorry I disappeared. I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you where I was."

The room was silent as her explanation ended.

* * *

A/N: Thanks a bunch for reading, I really appreciate it (I also appreciate reviews *wink wink* *nudge nudge*) Also, I know that I don't pay much attention the the travel, location, and such, because it's confusing to try and figure out how all of the travel would be and stuff, so please don't get mad at me about anything in the travel that seems too short and stuff.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Yep, I don't own DGM, didn't think you thought so :)

* * *

Chapter 5

Shepry's father broke the silence first, "So, what broke the doors and windows?"

"Akuma," Shepry answered. She wanted to shrink, she wanted to hide, and just wanted them to say that they believed what she had said.

"And why can't you stay here?" her mother asked.

"Because there aren't very many people who can fight with innocence, since I'm one of them I have to stay with the Black Order," Shepry answered sadly.

"Mr. Yeegar, was it, do you know that the group you work for could very well be charged with abduction?" Shepry's mother narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, we are all well aware of that fact; however, it is necessary to take innocence accommodators into the Order to protect their families from akuma," Yeegar explained.

"How would that protect us?!" her dad shouted.

"G-guys," Shepry murmured, she hated seeing others fight.

"Akuma are attracted to innocence and accommodators, they will attack your home at random," Yeegar tried to explain.

"Then you all aren't doing the job you claim to and protecting us!" Shepry's mother pointed out bitterly.

"Guys!" Shepry spoke louder this time, gaining their attention, "I know this is hard for all of us, but I know I need to help. I saw what akuma could do and I know that I need to help prevent it."

"But sweety-" her mom was cut off by Shepry.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so, so, so sorry, but I need to help. I couldn't save someone yesterday, and I know that I can't let that happen again," Shepry's eyes shone with tears, "I promise I'll try to remember and call you. I can borrow Komui's phone when I'm not on missions, and I may get a golem in a few years. I'm sorry!"

"You really want to try and help these people, don't you?" her mother hugged her.

"I don't want to, but I need to. I feel like I'll never be able to stop feeling guilty if I don't," Shepry nodded against her mother's shoulder, "You understand, right?"

"Of course we do," her father assured, joining in the hug.

"I promise I'll remember to call. I'll even write it on my hand everyday if I have to," Shepry smiled, "But don't get too worried if I don't keep in contact for a few days or weeks, okay?"

"We won't," her mom assured.

"I probably oughta go now, so that I don't change my mind and try to stay," Shepry said quietly.

"Komui just contacted me, we have a new mission, Shepry," Yeegar added, showing the conversation was done.

"Bye mom, dad, maybe I'll see you again sometime," Shepry smiled, hugging her parents again. She was terrified she would never see them again. She drew away, memorizing their smiling faces before she followed General Yeegar back to the carriage.

* * *

A young woman, no older than twenty-five, paced in the small space her cluttered shop allowed. She was afraid and fidgeting endlessly, waiting for someone to arrive. She didn't know how this had happened. Something made her want to rip flesh and spill blood, to kill humans. She didn't know what to do.

_That carriage hit me! I remember hearing, the last thing I heard to be exact, was the doctor saying I didn't have a chance. Then I woke up, in my sister's body. The necklace she wore around her neck burning at her skin, but I felt it. I tried to find her, I couldn't. I went to the graveyard, and saw my own grave. What's going on? The police think I'm crazy, _her mind worked fast. The police had called _someone _to help, and they were supposed to arrive within an hour or sooner. She paced even quicker, her skirt catching on a stack of books and other miscellaneous objects and pulling them to the ground. She didn't even bother to fix the pile. The store had fallen into a state of disarray. When she had woken up the "neat" stacks of objects had been scattered and toppled, the store's sign had been replaced with a "closed until further notice" sign, and dust had coated everything. It wasn't like the cluttered but friendly looking shop the woman had spent her life in.

The door opened, causing the bell to tinkle lightly.

"W-who's there?" she asked defensively.

"We're from the Black Order, we were called to investigate something odd happening to the owner of this shop," Shepry said, glancing back at Yeegar for approval of her handle of the situation. A call the General had received from Komui on the way to the city indicated that her training with him would only last a bit longer.

He nodded to show she had done a good job as they entered the shop.

"Thank you," a woman with messy hair and blood-shot, sleepless eyes met them within the messy store.

Shepry's hand stung unpleasantly. She managed to get control over her innocence, stopping the bullet from shooting. She could soon feel it dissolve back with the rest of her blood.

"Thank you so much for coming. I don't know what's going on," the woman practically cried.

"Why don't you tell us from the start, what's been going on recently?" Yeegar asked calmly.

"You wouldn't believe me, but why not. I was hit by a carriage sixteen days ago, and I died. Six days ago I woke up here, in the middle of the shop, in my sister's body. Her necklace, the one she always wore, was burning me. It hurt so badly, I took it off. I didn't know what was going on, I looked everywhere for my sister, and then I went to the graveyard to see if my grave was there. It was, it even had fresh flowers on it! I went to the hospital, they said it was denial about the death of my sister, or me I guess, and then I went to the police. They said they would call someone to help me," she explained hurriedly, her voice growing higher in pitch with every word. She seemed on the verge of hysteria.

"Could you show us the necklace?" Shepry asked gently.

"Of course. Could that have something to do with this?" she had already stood and was walking back to a staircase at the back of the room. She returned a minute later with the necklace. She was carefully avoiding contact with the glimmering green gem on the end of the chain, "Could this be the cause of some of this?"

"Yes, it very well could be," General Yeegar nodded, carefully inspecting the necklace.

It was made of innocence.

Standing before the two Exorcists was a phenomenon above all else, an akuma who could also use innocence.

"Do you know what could be going on?" the woman hopefully clasped her hands together.

"We might know, it'll take awhile to explain though," Shepry frowned, "First, why not tell us your name?"

"My name is Cheree," She said, handing the necklace over to Shepry and Yeegar.

"Well, Cheree, this necklace is what's called innocence," Shepry said, "It's an object pulled from the God Crystal and used to fight monsters called akuma."

"Akuma?" Cheree questioned.

"Yes, they're weapons of destruction crafted from human sorrow," Shepry answered. She looked to Yeegar to see if she was explaining well.

He nodded to her.

"Why do you fight them?" Cheree asked.

"Because they hunt humans to get stronger. They kill to evolve and kill more," Shepry answered, "But only some people can fight with innocence, we are known as accommodators. Something about akuma, they're made when someone is going through a personal tragedy, the loss of a loved one. I think that, maybe, you're an akuma brought back after death. Whether it was you or the person who revived you that was the accommodator, I'm not sure. Being an accommodator saved you from falling into the mindless killing of an akuma. If it's not too hard to ask of you, would you mind coming with us to the Black Order to test my theory?"

Cheree looked troubled, "What would happen if I went with you and I wasn't an accommodator?"

"We would bring you back here, and leave you be," Shepry smiled kindly. It was a smile that could calm just about anyone.

"Okay. What if I was an accommodator?" Cheree asked.

"Then we would train you to fight using your innocence and you would become an Exorcist," Shepry smiled again. It was the type of assuring smile that someone would give when another fell off of a bike for the first time and was afraid to get back on, "It's a lot to think about, I know, but please consider our offer."

"I'll come," Cheree answered almost immediately.

"That's good to hear," Yeegar smiled.

"Just come with us, we'll be leaving immediately," Shepry smiled, _God, what've I done? I've led someone else to the heck that is the Black Order. What is wrong with me?!_

"Of course," Cheree nodded. She stood and followed them.

* * *

"_General, I know that we've asked you to train Shepry, but these missions are just too dangerous for someone of her experience level. We're sending a finder to pick her up before you start your next mission. With what happened to Allen and Lenalee we can't afford to be less cautious than this,_" Komui's voice sounded from the Golem Yeegar carried with him._  
_

"I understand, I'll meet them in the next town. It's the same town where Allen and Lenalee are in the hospital at, right?" Yeegar spoke.

"_Yes, that's right,_" Komui answered.

"I think we'll meet the finder there, I would like to see how they're doing," Yeegar said.

"_I'll tell him where you'll be,_" Komui said, "_Be safe._"

"You as well, Komui," Yeegar nodded as he ended the call.

Cheree opened the carriage door. She was practically carrying Shepry.

"I think four bullets is the most I'll ever be able to fire," she mumbled as Cheree helped her sit down, "I feel like I'm gonna pass out."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Cheree asked, concerned.

"Nah, I'll be fine in a second. My innocence restores blood lost through my bullets quickly," Shepry almost shook her head but thought better of it. Her surroundings were spinning for her enough as it was, "I'll just feel really crappy for a few minutes."

"You should eat something," Yeegar advised.

"What do we have left?" Shepry questioned.

Yeegar looked through the small cabinet next to the stove, "Nothing."

"I thought so," Shepry sighed, laying her head down on the table, "Imma go to sleep now."

"You're going to be meeting up with a finder to take you and Cheree back to the Order when we reach the next town," Yeegar warned.

"Why?" Shepry's eyes shot open.

"There's a mission that they need a General to take, and it's too dangerous for you and Cheree to come along," Yeegar answered.

"No! You can't just go shuffling me around between people like this. First I was going to be at Headquarters, then I was going to travel with you, and now you want me to stay there again?" Shepry fumed.

"You've managed to learn enough control over your innocence to train on your own. You won't be getting as much in-battle experience, but you'll be much safer this way," Yeegar didn't raise his voice to match her volume.

"Safety this, safety that! What do any of you care about our safety?! I was _kidnapped _for Heaven's sake!" Shepry seethed, her previous weakness forgotten, "You keep on talking about my safety, but what about _your_ safety?! You may be a more experienced fighter, but you're old! And didn't two Exorcists get badly wounded on a mission recently, what about their safety?!"

"Shepry, sit down," Yeegar commanded, still not raising his voice.

Shepry hadn't even realized she had risen to her feet and was now standing menacingly over her teacher, "I hate you all. You ruined my life."

"We're leaving now," Yeegar stood and walked to the carriage door, stepping down to go to the front of the carriage and steer the horses.

"I hate everyone at the Order," Shepry growled quietly. She suddenly felt exhausted from getting so angry, "I think I'm gonna take a nap. It'll be awhile before we get there, probably two days at least."

"Oh, okay," Cheree said.

Shepry folded the back of one of the booths and curled up, too tired to get her blanket before she fell asleep.

Her dreams were blank, unmemorable, but she remembered, again, only one thing. Allen had been in her dream. He was smiling and laughing.

She woke up happy. She smiled at the sunset, peaking in through the window. Cheree had fallen asleep sitting on the booth opposite Shepry's bed, her head resting her her folded hands on the table.

Soon the sky had grown dark and the carriage had stopped.

Shepry stood up and walked to the door. There was a lamp on the carriage, that if they lit it, they could keep traveling through the night.

"Do you think we'll be able to reach town by morning if I drive through the night?" she offered.

"Maybe, will you be able to stay awake?" Yeegar asked.

"Yeah, I just woke up," Shepry nodded.

"Alright, don't forget to light the lamp," Yeegar warned, walking to the door of the carriage.

"I won't," Shepry assured. She had remembered to bring a match out and she struck it against the tough sole of her boot. She lit the lamp before blowing the match out and tossing it away. She climbed into the seat where the reins were laid and commanded the horses onwards.

* * *

The moon hung bright in the sky. It was a large, round moon that cast an eerily bright light onto everything it encountered. Shepry hummed quietly to herself. It had been about two hours since sunset, and the surroundings of the thin dirt road had become thick trees. It was a very long way to travel, she did admit, but she didn't mind the peace of travel.

Shadows of trees danced as wind ruffled their leafy branches. The shadows were beginning to make Shepry uneasy, she glanced around whenever she could afford to. Soon the relaxed feeling that had filled her was replaced with a suspicious tension that grew with every fluttering shadow and rustling branch. She was paranoid, she would scold herself, she was just thinking too much about akuma. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she turned her eyes back to the path. _Calm down, it's just like when you'd wander off on a farm when you were little. You're just a little anxious about not having anyone right beside you. Nothing will hurt you before you can hurt it. Calm down._

A squirrel jumped through a nearby tree, sending a fearful prickle down Shepry's spine. She focused her eyes on the path again, trying to let her mind get lost in the steady sound of the horses' hooves. She had calmed down, listening to the hoofbeats.

* * *

A/N: I'm just gonna leave us there! :D Thanks a big bunch for reading this far. Please R&R.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own DGM, I only own Shepry's poor, suffering soul. Sorry, Shepry, but you're stuck with me.

* * *

Chapter 6

Shepry pulled the carriage to a stop in front of the hospital of the town marked on the map. This was where they were supposed to meet up with the finder and visit the injured Exorcists. She yawned and climbed down from the seat, tying the reins in place. She walked to the door and opened it, flooding light into the carriage. General Yeegar was reading through his mission report, Cheree was still asleep.

"We're here," Shepry yawned.

Cheree opened one eye to glance up at Shepry, squinting against the light spilling through the door, "Bright."

"Get up already," Shepry prodded her shoulder.

"I _am _up thanks to you opening the door," Cheree glared at the younger girl.

"Well, that's just great," Shepry said, walking back outside of the carriage. She tended to be a little bit grumpy and aggressive when she was this tired.

"Miss Exorcist, you're here," a finder approached them, "I assume your trip was well, General."

"As well as we can hope for, at this point," Yeegar nodded.

"Your name was Bert, right?" Shepry recognized the finder.

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd remember that," Bert smiled, as if that one comment had made his day just a bit better.

"Is Chief Komui still here?" Yeegar hated to interrupt the conversation, but he wanted to talk to Komui before he left.

"Yeah, he wanted to wait until Lenalee woke up to leave, but we don't think either of them will be awake before he has to," Bert nodded.

"Wait, Lenalee was one of the Exorcists who got hurt?" Shepry butted into the conversation.

"Yeah, Lenalee and Allen. I thought that the General would've.. told-" Bert stood there, realizing that there was probably a reason that Shepry hadn't known who was hurt.

"Are they okay?" Shepry asked. She only knew them and Kanda, so she tried not to worry herself about the other Exorcists being injured. It scared her, how fast someone could go from fine to hurt. Last she had seen them, about a week prior, they had been perfectly fine.

"Komui told me that they had been unconscious since their mission, but they should recover," Yeegar assured.

Shepry nodded. She wondered if Yeegar had originally planned on sending her and Cheree with the finder before he went to talk to Komui.

"Whenever you're ready for me to take them back to the Headquarters, tell me," Bert addressed Yeegar.

"Can I see them, just so I know how injured they are?" Shepry asked quietly.

"Yes, you would only worry more if you didn't," Yeegar agreed.

Bert led them down one of the halls of the hospital. Soon he stopped them in front of a door and knocked on it.

Komui's voice sounded from inside, granting them entrance.

Bert opened the door.

They entered Lenalee's room. Lenalee was almost perfectly still, but she didn't have any apparent injuries. Her hair was out of its usual pigtails.

"Ah, General, it's good to see you made it safely," Komui had been sitting in a chair in the far corner of the room. His golem hovered around his head, and from the occasional static Shepry guessed someone was listening to the conversation on the other line, "Bookman, may I call you back in a moment?"

"_Yes, just don't wait too long,_" a voice answered.

"Alright," Komui ended the call.

"Who's Bookman?" Shepry asked.

"He's another Exorcist, and he is the current head of the Bookman clan," Komui answered.

Shepry had never heard of the Bookman clan, but she didn't bother asking. She glanced at Lenalee again, "What's wrong with her?"

"She was attacked by an akuma using sound waves and it temporarily damaged her nerves," Komui answered. For once he wasn't being ridiculous or silly.

"And she'll be okay?" Shepry asked again.

"Of course, that's why I called Bookman here. He's fairly skilled with treating injuries like these," Komui answered.

Shepry glanced back at Lenalee. If she didn't know Lenalee was still alive she would never have guessed she was. Her face was paler than usual and her chest barely rose and fell with her breathing.

"Gramps, I told you I was just kidding when I called you panda," a voice sounded in the hallway. It was accompanied by the sound of footsteps.

The speaker got a grunt of annoyance in response.

An elderly man, standing only as high as Shepry's chest, entered the room. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, making him look almost like a panda. A red-haired boy followed him. The boy had an eye-patch covering his right eye.

He looked at Cheree, before grinning and exclaiming, "Strike!" He ran over and introduced himself as Lavi to her.

"I'm Cheree," she answered, startled by the sudden attention, "It's nice to meet you."

"It's my pleasure," Lavi grinned and shook her hand.

Cheree smiled at him.

Shepry could have sworn she watched a panda leap towards Lavi, but it was only Bookman as he did a flying kick. Poor Lavi hit the wall.

"Behave yourself," Bookman scolded.

"Old Panda," Lavi said under his breath as he stood up.

Shepry blinked at the suddenly active room. She was really anxious to see how hurt Allen was, but she wasn't going to voice that to the others. She had unconsciously drifted behind Yeegar, away from Lavi and Bookman. She blinked at this realization and stepped to the side.

"Lavi, take them," Bookman motioned to Cheree, Bert, and Shepry, "To Allen's room. Komui and I need to speak with the General."

"Sure thing, Gramps," Lavi nodded, waving for the three to follow him.

They walked out of the room and down the hall to another door.

"Gramps told me this was the right room," Lavi said as he opened it quietly. The room was silent. The main light was off, but enough light filtered through the white curtains that it really wasn't needed.

Allen looked to be worse off than Lenalee. A bandage covered his left eye and another bandage wrapped down his left arm, which laid on top of the covers. He was pale, as if he had lost a considerable amount of blood.

Shepry's breath caught in her throat at the sight. Yes, she had seen an even worse injury the previous day, an uncovered injury, but something about seeing Allen in this condition seemed to tear at her thoughts.

"Hey, you okay?" Lavi asked, he looked concerned.

For a moment, Shepry wondered why, but then she realized she was swaying on her feet. She did her best to steady herself and smile assuringly, "I'm fine. I'm just not used to seeing people injured."

Lavi seemed to accept that answer, as did the others.

_What's different about him than Nard or Lenalee? Why didn't seeing them hurt have the same affect? What is wrong with me? I can't just go picking favorites to care about! _Shepry scolded herself.

"I guess we should leave now, if we want to reach the next town by tonight," Bert said, snapping Shepry out of her occupied train of thought.

Shepry nodded in agreement.

"Guess I'll see you all around," Lavi waved.

"Bye," Cheree smiled at him and waved.

Shepry silently left the room behind Bert.

* * *

A/N: Okay, REALLY short chapter, I apologize, but I just couldn't think of anything better to do. Please R&R, I love to know what y'all think.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own DGM, Shepry doesn't own DGM, and that random roach in my history class doesn't own DGM.

* * *

Chapter 7

Shepry leaned her head against the carriage window. She hadn't slept the night before and was exhausted.

"Shepry?" Cheree spoke questioningly, as if asking permission to ask a question.

"Yeah?" Shepry could hardly open her mouth without yawning.

"I'm afraid of going to the Order. You said Exorcists kill akuma, what if I _am _one?" Cheree fidgeted nervously in her seat.

Shepry lifted her head enough to smile at the older woman, "Then I'll help you escape and hide."

"R-really?" Cheree seemed shocked by this.

"Of course, it was me who presented the idea of you become an Exorcist," Shepry smiled kindly before resting her head back against the rattling window.

Cheree seemed to think about that for a moment, "Thank you."

"No problem," Shepry smiled, ignoring the stinging in her palms. Ever since Cheree had been near her she had to work twice as hard to keep her innocence under control. She was almost afraid to fall asleep when she had enough blood in her body to form bullets. A calm silence settled over them; allowing Shepry's mind to grow heavy and sluggish with approaching sleep. As her thoughts finally slowed to a stop she imagined she could feel her hand stinging even more.

* * *

Cheree jumped, startled, as Shepry unconsciously shot a bullet into the floor of the carriage. She looked at the younger girl. Shepry was fast asleep. She contemplated waking her up; she could accidentally shoot someone else or herself this way. Cheree decided against it. She sat back and stared blankly at the ceiling. Her hands practically ached for the feeling of blood, warm and sticky, between her fingers. She wanted to kill something so badly. She had never had an urge this strong before. She wanted to stab or slice or shoot something. She wanted to watch lives crumble before her.

Her heart rate picked up and thudded erratically in her ears, her breathing drowned out Shepry's quiet, occasional snores. She had to control herself. She wasn't a killer, even if she was an akuma. Her sister's necklace burned her leg through the fabric of her pocket. She snatched the necklace out of her pocket. The green gem on the end of the chain glowed bright and heat radiated off of it. It felt like she was sitting next to an oven. She felt as if flames were wrapping up and around her arms, licking at her legs. She screamed, but her hand wouldn't let her release the necklace. She quickly realized electricity was causing her muscles to lock up. She screamed again, barely able to force air into or out of her lungs. The world seemed to flash from the pain. She felt something warm on her hand. It wasn't like the necklace, it was a pleasant heat. She could hear a dull voice that seemed so far away. The words garbled around her name, and all she could make out _was _her name. Her muscles relaxed, and her breathing grew easier. The pain slowly receded, leaving a shakiness in its place.

"There, good girl," Bert's voice spoke.

She realized she wasn't sitting up anymore. She had been laid down.

"I shouldn't have fallen asleep. I shouldn't have, I let my own innocence go out of control and I couldn't stop this earlier," Shepry practically whimpered.

Cheree opened her eyes. She was still in the carriage. Fabric was folded under her head as a pillow and her hand felt like it had been burned.

"Cheree, are you okay?" Shepry asked, leaning over Cheree to see her face more clearly.

"My hand hurts," Cheree said, then added, "My entire arm hurts."

"I bet," Shepry laughed pityingly. She held up the necklace that Cheree had been holding a moment before.

"What just happened?" Cheree asked again.

"Your innocence tried to kill you," Shepry suddenly grew serious; the shaky, nervous laughter leaving her voice completely, "It was electrocuting you, and then the heat coming off of it caught your sleeve on fire. It was really hard to get you to let go of the necklace."

Cheree looked at the necklace. The green gem glowed spastically, spluttering into and out of light at random intervals, "Is it because I'm an akuma?"

"I think so, but once we get you to the Order and talk to the scientists about it we'll figure something out. Once it's out of its pure form it should be easier for you to control," Shepry assured, putting the necklace into her own pocket, "I'll just hold onto it for you."

Bert had already left the carriage to continue on their journey. The carriage creaked back into motion.

"Sorry I fell asleep and couldn't help you immediately," Shepry frowned.

"It's fine, I shouldn't have been holding onto the necklace anyways," Cheree assured. Over the course of the conversation she had sat up, moving to sit normally and adjusting her pale purple skirt.

"I'm still sorry," Shepry bowed her head sadly, "I just can't stop messing things up."

"That's not true!" Cheree scolded, "You managed to figure out what happened to me, and you're a really kind person."

"You look like a little kid when you pout like that," Shepry smiled a little.

Cheree faked offense, "I absolutely do not."

"You sure? Looked like you could've thrown a tantrum any second there," Shepry laughed.

"Why, you're the one who was pouting like a child," Cheree faked disappointment, "I've never seen a more immature lady in my life."

"Then you must've never heard of a mirror," Shepry practically cackled.

"If I hadn't, I wouldn't know true beauty," Cheree tossed her hair, but ruined the effect of it when she got a few blonde strands in her mouth and spit them out.

"Yeah, 'cause chocking on your own hair is 'true beauty'," Shepry smiled.

"Curly hair is hard to keep out of your face," Cheree brushed her hair behind her ear, "Ms. perfectly straight hair."

"Oh, well sorry my hair is perfect," Shepry grinned and ran her fingers through her tangle-less hair.

"It is, I am unworthy," Cheree chuckled. Only then did she realize that her arm didn't hurt at all. She glanced down and noticed that the burn and any sign of it were gone.

Shepry followed her gaze to where the injury had been, "Maybe it has to do with you being an akuma?"

"I guess," Cheree nodded, gently prodding her arm to see if it still hurt anywhere.

"Well, that's a good ability," Shepry smiled.

Cheree nodded absently, "Yeah."

"You look tired, maybe you should rest," Shepry suggested.

Cheree yawned, as if her body were agreeing, "I think I will."

"Sleep well," Shepry smiled as she readjusted the way she was sitting to look out of the window.

Cheree leaned her shoulder and head against the opposite door.

* * *

Bert rowed their boat upstream in the hidden passageway to the Order.

"I'll get to sleep in a bed again," Shepry sighed happily, trying to ignore the thought nagging at the back of her head. _Thanks to you being slow, Nard will never need a bed to sleep in. Thanks to your guilt you may never return home._

"Maybe you'll have the luck to avoid another assignment for a few days," Bert chuckled.

"I hope so. Though I'll probably be using ever bit of my free time to get control over my innocence," Shepry looked at her palms. She was wearing another pair of red gloves, having replaced her most recent pair of torn gloves.

"Well, everyone has to practice to get good at something, just think of your innocence as a talent you want to get better at," Cheree offered with a small smile.

"Maybe, dunno if it works that way though," Shepry shrugged, "I honestly want nothing to do with any of this."

Cheree frowned.

"But it might work!" Shepry felt bad about shooting down the other woman's idea now, "I could always try thinking about it as something to work towards. Or I could find some way to look forward to it."

"You don't have to act so enthusiastic if you think it's a worthless plan," Cheree chuckled.

Shepry blushed, "B-but you were acting upset."

"I wasn't meaning to," Cheree shrugged.

Shepry frowned this time. She crossed her arms across her chest and pouted childishly.

"Gee, now who's the immature one?" Cheree poked the tip of Shepry's nose.

Shepry blinked, crossing her eyes to look at her own nose, "Hey!"

"Stop frowning like that," Cheree grinned, "No guys will think you're pretty if you go around with that stupid expression on your face. I'd say you've got pretty fair chances without that pout though."

Shepry blushed bright pink, "I-I'm not that pretty."

"Not if you're frowning," Cheree shrugged.

The boat bumped into the dock, bringing them to a stop.

Bert climbed onto the dock and fastened the boat there before offering a hand to help Cheree and Shepry off of the shaky surface.

"This place is really creepy," Cheree shuddered, glancing at the dripping cobbled stone walls.

"It's really cool once you get to the first floor, this is just the creepy basement," Shepry laughed, "It's huge once you get to the first floor too!"

"Really?" Cheree asked.

"Yeah, it's gigantic! The ceiling is so high up and there's a bunch of space. It's like a castle," Shepry bounced on her heels.

"It's not that great, Shepry," Bert face-palmed.

"It's not?" Shepry blinked.

"Only to someone like you. I guess you've always lived in areas with smaller buildings," Bert decided.

As they exited the stairwell Cheree's eyes widened, "This place _is _huge! I lived in a town known for big buildings, what are you talking about Bert?"

"My house had three floors about this big when I was growing up," Bert said.

"Bert, did you live in a mansion or castle or something?" Shepry gaped.

"No, isn't that what most homes are like?" Bert's forehead wrinkled in bewilderment.

"No," Cheree shook her head.

"Your family must've been filthy rich!" Shepry squealed, "God, I've never heard of a house that big."

"All of the houses I visited were that big, all of my friends lived in big houses like that. Is it really that odd?" Bert blinked questioningly. He scratched his head curiously as he waited for either to answer.

"Well, if you came from a wealthy family I guess not. You probably went to a fancy boarding school and only interacted with other people from rich or powerful families," Cheree answered thoughtfully.

"Ooh, I remember when my da was called to take care of a really rich family's carriage horses. Their house was big. I wasn't allowed inside, but I met the daughter and she acted so snobby even though she was my age and everything," Shepry said, "Those horses were so cool too!"

"You can turn a conversations to animals no matter what it is, can't you?" Bert deadpanned.

"Well, I guess," Shepry shrugged. They had reached the large doors of Komui's office.

"I guess I'll be seeing you all around, I'm headed to the cafeteria," Bert waved.

"Bye bye!" Shepry waved as she pushed open the large doors. They caught on the papers and books on the floor, creating the loud sound of crumpling paper.

Reever scrambled to clear a few important books from the mess, "Hello, Shepry."

"Hello," Shepry smiled, "I brought the new Exorcist to go see Hevlaska."

"Alright, let me put these books back on the shelves and then I'll take her," Reever walked back towards the shelves behind Komui's desk.

"Who's Hevlaska?" Cheree asked nervously.

"She's another Exorcist. We use her to determine the synchronization rate an Exorcist has with their innocence," Shepry explained, "She looks a little scary at first but she'd really not that bad."

"My name's Reever," he had walked over and held his out for Cheree to shake.

"I'm Cheree," she shook his hand, smiling.

"Well, Cheree, we should probably go take you to Hevlaska, come on," Reever waved for her to follow.

"I'm gonna stay here, Reever," Shepry called.

Reever nodded, answering back, "Just don't break anything."

"Of course," Shepry smiled, turning to find Johnny's desk amongst the mess of papers and sleeping scientists. He was one of the few scientists who was awake enough to work on anything at the moment.

"Hello Shepry," he looked up from the golem he was repairing. The purple and black Golem sat on the corner of his desk.

"Have you gotten any closer to finishing that new Golem?" Shepry looked at the sad creation. Limp wings spread across the table and buried by paper, one small leg had fallen off and lay nearby on the table.

"Afraid not. I may just have to forget about that prototype, it's been falling apart at random," Johnny sighed as he picked up the small, detached leg for emphasis.

"It looks like cracked clay," Shepry remembered when she had been little and dug deep enough in her family's yard to reach a patch of clay. She had played with it all day until it dried out and cracked.

"It's supposed to be able to fit back together like clay. We don't know what materials Timcanpy is made of so it's rather difficult to replicate him," Johnny nodded, almost proud he had at least accomplished that much.

"Maybe you should add something to the mixture for the material to make it a little more moist," Shepry suggested, "Would that work?"

"It might, I'll have to try that," Johnny nodded.

Shepry glanced over his shoulder at the Golem he was currently repairing, "What happened to that?"

"It flew too close to an akuma that Suman destroyed," Johnny answered.

"Who's Suman?" Shepry blinked questioningly.

"He's another Exorcist," Johnny answered, only half paying attention to Shepry.

* * *

Cheree stepped onto the elevator after Reever.

"We're going down fast, so you might want to hold onto the railing," Reever warned as he pulled a lever on the control panel.

Cheree took the warning, wrapping her fingers around the rail. The elevator dropped quickly, suddenly jerking to a halt, "Why would you build an elevator like that?" Cheree opened her eyes and looked up, gasping at the glowing creature in front of her. Without warning small white arms wrapped around her arms and legs. She noticed that Reever had held out the necklace to be taken by the white hands as well. Her skin burned wherever the arms touched and she wanted to scream.

"She's an akuma!" the creature sounded shocked as it dropped her back onto the platform.

Cheree barely registered slamming back onto the platform, her body wouldn't move. She didn't realize the platform was back at the previous level until she was yanked to her feet by one arm and dragged down the hall.

"Shepry!" Reever seethed, "Why on earth would you bring an _akuma_ here!?"

"Don't hurt her. It's a really long story," Shepry ran over, tugging Reever's hand off of Cheree's arm.

"Well we'd all _LOVE_ to hear an explanation," Reever's voice had quieted to a startling level.

Shepry took a deep breath before she started speaking, "She is an akuma, yes, but either the soul used to create her or the body she wears was an accommodator. Somehow that kept her from killing or even realizing she was an akuma. She still has the memories of before she died and she still had complete control over her actions."

"You should have told someone she was an akuma, we could've prepared for it better. What if she isn't what you think? What if she is a regular akuma?" Reever demanded.

"She's not!" Shepry practically growled, "I've been with her for three days, and I can tell she's not."

Cheree wished she could shrink and disappear at that moment. Any scientists who weren't gaping at Shepry, as she continued yelling at Reever, were glaring at Cheree.

Shepry had stopped talking, she was now simply glaring at Reever, and any scientist who looked her way.

"I'm sorry I'm an akuma," Cheree managed to squeak out in the near silence.

"Don't-"

"I meant what I said," Cheree cut Shepry off, "I'm sorry I'm an akuma, but I can't help it. But if you want to kill me because of that I will not simply sit by and let you."

The room fell silent. Dead silent.

"We won't sentence you to death yet," Reever finally broke the silence, "But you will be monitored closely."

"Of course," Cheree nodded, a small smile curling her lips, "Thank god I'm not gonna die yet."

Shepry seemed to release a breath she had been holding the whole time, "Good."

"Shepry, we are going to have to report your neglect to mention this to Central," another scientist stated from somewhere within the crowd of desks and papers.

"Well no one asked, so I didn't neglect to tell anyone. I was going to put it into my report," Shepry answered, almost too calmly and sweetly, "But go ahead and report that, if you please. By all means."

"Speaking of reports, why don't you go ahead and fill out this one now?" Reever handed her the stack of papers that accompanied the completion of any mission.

"Can I do it in the cafeteria? I'm hungry," Shepry clutched her stomach, which had slowly been growling louder and louder.

"Sure, just don't forget to bring it back here when you've filled it out," Reever chuckled.

Shepry hurriedly turned and walked out of the doors, which were still opened wide. Cheree scrambled after her.

* * *

Shepry set a tray stacked with plates of food down on the table next to the mission report. She started eating as she picked up a pen and began filling out the papers.

Cheree sat next to her. She had gotten nothing to eat.

"Aren't you hungry, Cheree?" Shepry asked as she scarfed down her food.

Cheree shook her head, "Ever since I woke up as an akuma I haven't been hungry."

"I guess that makes sense," Shepry nodded to herself.

"I'm sorry I've caused you so much trouble," Cheree bowed her head.

"What trouble?" Shepry shrugged.

Cheree smiled a little, "You know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah, but I can refuse to acknowledge that," Shepry grinned before taking a bite of undercooked steak.

"How can you eat that steak?! It's bloody," Cheree wrinkled her nose.

"Because it's good that way," Shepry swallowed, "Otherwise it gets stuck in your teeth easier when you eat it."

"That's gross," Cheree practically gagged as she watched Shepry stuff another bite in her mouth.

Shepry chewed a bit before she tried to talk, "Not as gross as eating it cooked until it's charred."

"That might be better," Cheree said.

"Weirdo," Shepry glanced back at the paperwork.

Cheree chuckled at the half-hearted insult. She thought that, maybe, she could get used to this life.

* * *

A/N: Thanks a bunch for reading, this chapter is a bit longer, so enjoy.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: "Author does not own DGM, only me. Yep, just me, sucks to be me." -Shepry

* * *

Chapter 8

Shepry had returned to her room shortly after eating. She yawned and flopped onto her bed, _I stink. I really need to find the community showers Lenalee told me about when I first got here._ With this bit of reason Shepry stood up and walked back towards the door. She opened the door and wandered down the hallway, lucky enough to literally run into one of the few female finders.

"I think I got lost, could you help me out?" Shepry stuttered as she spoke. She had come to do this more and more around new people since she had been brought to the Order.

"Of course, where d'you need to go?" the finder smiled kindly. Her hood was up but bits of bright ginger hair fell out of the front of the hood and onto her shoulders.

"I can't find the bathrooms or showers," Shepry said.

"Oh, follow me. You must be one of the newest Exorcists I suppose?" the finder motioned for Shepry to follow her down the hallway.

"Yeah, I just got back here for the second time since I became an Exorcist," Shepry nodded, smiling at how easy the conversation was to keep.

"It's hard being new here. The place is so big," the finder chuckled.

Shepry nodded in response, thought she knew that the finder couldn't see her nod, "I was unlucky enough to get a room at the very top of the tower."

"That's tough luck. I joined long enough ago that I got a room near the bottom of the stairs," the finder grinned over her shoulder.

Shepry noticed the slight, almost unnoticeable traces of wrinkles on the finders face. The woman looked to be in her late forties or early fifties.

"Climbing up the stairs and ramps takes forever," Shepry nodded again.

"I imagine it would. And the cafeteria's so far away from there too," the finder stated.

Shepry agreed quietly, getting a little lost in looking at the pattern on the wall.

"Alright, this is the girls' shower, the toilets and sinks are on that side," the finder smiled and motioned to the different halves of the room.

"Thank you a lot," Shepry smiled back.

"Also, if you need to borrow soap, you can just drop by the store room in there. That's where they keep soap, shampoo, towels, and things like that," the finder motioned to the closet at the end of the bathroom as she walked down the hall.

"Again, thanks," Shepry called after her, walking to the closet and opening it. She took a stiff towel, a bar of soap, and a bottle of shampoo. The showers were each in their own little stall with a white door to cover them. Shepry decided on the middle shower, though she honestly didn't care which shower she chose as long as she could wash her hair. She turned on the water, almost not caring that it was cold. She suddenly realized just how tired she was, making her want to take a quick shower and then go to sleep as soon as possible. By the time she had neatly folded her clothes in a pile just outside of the shower the water had warmed up considerably, only assisting in making her even more sleepy. She scrubbed shampoo into her hair; taking at least two minutes to rinse her hair completely. Soon she had finished her shower and turned the water off, opening the door of the shower just enough to grab the shower folded outside of the door. She dried herself off, leaving her hair dripping. After getting dressed she walked back to her room. She flopped sleepily into bed.

* * *

Shepry opened her eyes, annoyed at the thick rays of light that shone through her window. She yawned and sat up, rubbing at her eyes. Her stomach growled quietly.

_Guess I better eat something, _she thought, walking towards the door. She walked down the series of stairs that led to the cafeteria. She had discovered quickly that no one in the Order she had met would even begin to care about how much she ate, this made her feel quiet a bit better about how much she ordered. With this happy thought in mind she ordered an inhumanly large amount of food and waited patiently for Jerry to call her order. Soon she was sitting at an empty table with multiple plates and bowls of food spread and stacked in front of her. Halfway through her meal she heard a familiar voice say hello.

"Hello," she waved to Cheree.

"That's a lot of food," Cheree looked slightly astonished at the number of empty plates already stacked into a pile.

"Be quiet," Shepry growled through a mouthful of food.

"It's immature to talk with your mouth full," Cheree stuck her tongue out at the younger girl.

Shepry rolled her eyes and swallowed the bite of food, possibly steak, to repeat herself.

"I heard you the first time, I just felt that argument needed to continue," Cheree laughed.

"Well I said it again anyways," Shepry shrugged, already cutting off another chunk of bloody steak.

"Alright," Cheree shrugged.

"Cheree!" someone called from the crowd of the cafeteria, scrambling over. It was Johnny, "Whenever you get the chance can you stop at the Science Department? I need to get the measurements for your uniform."

"Of course," Cheree nodded, smiling.

"Also, Shepry, there's a new report that we need an Exorcist to investigate. I know you just got back but it sounds like there are a lot of akuma gathering in one town. When you get the chance Reever wants you to stop by the Department too," Johnny added before he walked to the order window.

"Dang it," Shepry frowned. She hurriedly finished her food before standing up and walking towards the cafeteria exit.

Cheree followed her, easily keeping up with the younger girl.

"I wonder where you'll be going," Cheree pondered aloud.

Shepry shrugged, "I have no clue."

"How many times have you had to leave the Order since you became an Exorcist?" Cheree was just trying to keep a conversation going at this point.

"Twice, the first time was supposed to be long term," Shepry answered.

Cheree couldn't think of anything else to add to the conversation.

They walked in silence to the Science Department. Shepry pushed open one of the large doors, hoping there were no important documents getting crushed in its wake.

Reever looked up to see who had entered the large room, "I didn't expect you two to get here so quickly."

Shepry shrugged, "So what's the new assignment?"

"There've been a lot of accidents and disappearances on a road leading between two towns in Italy. When the victims are found only their clothes are found. We think it's akuma, which means there may be innocence nearby," Reever explained, handing Shepry a folder with papers about the various reports.

"Alright," Shepry nodded, reading quickly over the papers, "Should I leave now?"

"The sooner the better. You'll be meeting up with a finder when you get to the town," Reever answered.

"Alright," Shepry nodded. She stared at a map of the towns intently as she walked out of the room. She walked to the underground water-way and quickly scrambled into one of the various boats ready for use. She untied it from the dock and steered through the passage. Soon enough she had reached the exit at the bottom of the cliff. She tied the boat to the dock and stepped onto the dock. She walked out, following the dirt path that led to the town. She went to the train station, seeing that the next train to the town she was headed to would be leaving in a little over an hour she bought a ticket, putting it on the Order's tab of course. With nothing better to do she sat down on an empty bench to wait for her train. Soon the train pulled into the station, and after a few moments the passengers began boarding.

* * *

Shepry had found a completely empty car on the train. She was glad, because something in the back of her head seemed to be telling her this was the last moment of quiet she would get for a long time. The last moment of peace and relaxation. She played with the fabric on the hems of her gloves. She had to admit, it felt pretty nice to be away from Cheree and not have to keep her innocence under such tight control. Without much else to do, Shepry hummed quietly to herself. She tapped the rhythm of the song out on the seat beside her.

One of the doors to the car opened and a young man wandered in. He looked unhappy about something. He cursed quietly under his breath every few seconds.

"Is something the matter?" Shepry looked up from her focus on her boots.

The man stopped speaking, "Ah, I didn't realize there was anyone in here. I apologize."

"It's fine. Is something wrong?" Shepry asked.

"Everything is wrong," the man sat down on the edge of the bench a few feet away from her, resting his head in his hands.

"Would talking make it better? I might not be able to offer advice but I'll listen if you need," Shepry offered, stuttering slightly. Dang it, why did she have to get so nervous around new people? She tried to ignore the growing pain in her hands and arms. She had begun to dismiss the pain, since they found Cheree, as being around her.

"Well, the Millennium Earl has been replacing me with level ones recently," the man's arm morphed into a gun.

Shepry held her arm up, aiming her hand towards him, "Innocence, activate!"

Nothing happened.

Shepry focused on controlling her blood, she tried so hard to get her innocence to obey her, but to her extreme displeasure nothing happened. Her heart rate sped up as she realized just how trapped she was. She closed her eyes, waiting to be hit by an akuma's bullet. Her hand finally shot a blood-colored bullet. She opened her eyes as she realized she'd hit the akuma. She used her arm to shield her face from the akuma exploding. As the adrenaline left her system Shepry found she could hardly stand anymore. She sat back down where she had been sitting, _That was too close. I need to get better control over my innocence!_

* * *

Shepry looked around the small train station, keeping an eye out for the familiar beige coat of a finder. She spotted the coat, and quickly made her way through the crowd.

"So you're the Exorcist I have to babysit?" the finder looked annoyed to be stuck with an Exorcist younger than her. She looked to be twenty, only about four years older than Shepry.

"Yeah," Shepry could already tell this mission was going to be miserable.

"We should probably go investigate that road where everyone disappears," the finder shrugged, walking away.

Shepry followed after her.

* * *

Rain pelted the woman as she ran down the street. She held the small child in her arms closer to herself. She had seen the akuma and she knew they were getting much closer. She looked up to see if there was any form of shelter nearby. There was absolutely nothing. She heard a gun fire and felt the bullet pierce her shoulder.

_Maybe they won't find Cecily. Hopefully, they won't find her, _the woman looked up to see a carriage moving down the street. She hoped that the people inside would see her and take Cecily.

Shepry glanced out of the carriage window into the rain. There was the form of akuma floating in the air around someone huddled over.

"Trixie! Stop the carriage!" Shepry called through the small window that allowed Trixie, the finder with her, to hear what she said from inside the carriage.

Trixie did as commanded, bringing the horses to a halt.

Shepry quickly dashed into the rain, aiming her hand towards one of the akuma. It fell and exploded, a bullet of innocence dissolving inside of its body. She shot down the other two before she ran over to the woman.

"You're an Exorcist," the woman gasped when Shepry approached.

"I can help you. I can help you. Please hold on," Shepry bit the palm of her hand until a shimmering drop of green blood welled up on her damp hand. She held her hand above the injury and pressed down on her palm just below the cut. A drop of blood mixed with water fell onto the woman's injured shoulder.

"Please take care of Cecily. Don't let the Order find her," the woman murmured as her body turned to dust. The drop of diluted blood hit the black dust.

"Cecily? Who's Cecily?" Shepry questioned. Her answer came at the sudden crying.

Under the damp fabric that used to be the woman's clothing was a small child. She looked to be about six to eight months old. She was wrapped in a blanket but one thing was for certain; the child had a fragment of innocence tucked near the top of the blanket. The fragment shimmered green through the soft, wet fabric.

Shepry picked "Cecily" up carefully. She had never held an infant before and was honestly afraid she would hurt the child.

"Where'd the kid come from?" Trixie asked when Shepry returned.

"Her mother, I assume it was her mother, was killed by akuma but asked me to take her to the next town," Shepry lied as she climbed back into the carriage.

"How troublesome," Trixie frowned, "Didn't she realize we had a job to do?"

"T-Trixie?! People's last requests should be granted, not mocked!" Shepry snapped.

"Maybe for you Exorcists, but finders like me don't like to waste our precious time," Trixie sneered. Before Shepry could continue she turned back to face the road.

_Cecily, I guess that's a pretty name, _Shepry thought.

* * *

A/N: Thanks a bunch for reading! :D


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